Hold the front page! People with learning disabilities in Trafford receive prestigious award for news magazine

National disability charity United Response is holding an awards ceremony for a group of people with learning disabilities in Trafford today after their work recently won them a National Charity Award.

UR Consultants are supported and employed by United Response to create Easy News, the UK’s first easy read news magazine. Using simple words and accompanying images, the magazine features current affairs stories and won a National Charity Award for Education in June.

This ‘mini’ awards ceremony will take place at Old Trafford cricket club on 15th August from 12pm to 2pm. Kate Green MP will be attending the event, as well as disability activist Kaliya Franklin. Consultants will be presented with the award as well as a certificate to mark their achievements. Refreshments will be available.

Easy News was created following the 2010 General Election and discussions with Kaliya, who asked United Response to write an easy read report of her conversation with Ed Miliband in 2011. Realising that people with learning disabilities needed access to news at all times in order to feel engaged with political issues and vote in an informed way, the charity worked with Kaliya and Easy News was born.

At the time of the magazine’s launch at beginning of 2013, just 37% of subscribers said they could name a recent big news event though, one year later, that figure jumped to 73%. Similarly, while only 53 per cent of people felt that politics made a difference to their lives prior to the launch, 78 per cent felt that this was the case just one year later, a positive result as people with learning disabilities often find traditional news difficult to follow.

Diane Lightfoot, Director of Fundraising and Communications at United Response, said: “Easy News started out with a single aim, to make news accessible for the thousands of people with learning disabilities who found themselves excluded from the debate and, a year on, the stats speak for themselves. More and more people are turning to Easy News to help them stay informed and have a much better understanding of the news as a result.

“Our UR Consultants have worked incredibly hard to create such a varied and relevant bi-monthly resource and this event presents an opportunity to recognise their great contribution and say thank you for all their continued efforts.”

People with learning disabilities can often find it difficult to access work opportunities. As well as providing a news service, Easy News has created 30 paid jobs for people with learning disabilities and enabled people to develop their skills and confidence.

Ahead of the release of the VODG report, ‘Closing the Disability and Employment Gap’, United Response’s chief executive Tim Cooper, spoke at the Learning Disability Today exhibition in London about closing the disability employment gap.

Become a support worker for United Response and help disabled people in their communities at home. You’ll help them cook, clean, pay bills, apply for jobs, make friends and a thousand things in between.

Easy News is the first news magazine designed to be accessible for people with learning disabilities, aimed to encourage discussion around news stories and keep readers informed about the world around them. Read the latest issue here.

We work with young people and adults with a wide range of learning disabilities across England and Wales. To plan the right kind of support, we work closely with each individual and the people who are important to them. In this way, they get the support they want, in the way they want.

Although we support people across the whole range of learning disabilities, we have particular expertise in supporting people with more complex needs – including people who other agencies have not been able to support. We have a strong track record in supporting people to move on and to enjoy a better quality of life.